Category: Thame news

The Haddenham community has voted very decisively in its local referendum on Thursday, July 16, when 86% of those voting said YES to the village’s Neighbourhood Plan.

This means that, subject to final approval by a Government inspector, AVDC will need to reference Haddenham’s Neighbourhood Plan when it considers planning applications in and close to the village in the coming years.

The referendum was the culmination of a great deal of effort over the last two years to consult with local residents through public meetings, workshops and smaller scale group discussions, to build a consensus view of how Haddenham should develop over the next 18 years.

The final Neighbourhood Plan was compiled by a team led by Andy Fell on behalf of Haddenham Parish Council, with assistance from the Village Society and other residents.

Once the Plan had been approved by an independent inspector and AVDC, and offered up to Haddenham residents in the referendum, the Parish Council had to remain impartial as a corporate body.

The ‘YES Campaign’ was therefore driven by local residents, led by Keith Milmer, in the face of determined efforts by land development company Lightwood Strategic, which sought directly to persuade the Haddenham community to vote NO.

Keith said: “after so much effort from Andy Fell and the NP team to consult with residents and then spend many hundreds of hours compiling the Plan, it was depressing to see an external development company with major financial interests in the outcome of the referendum seeking to influence what should have been a very local decision making process.”

He continued: “A small but significant group of residents also campaigned for a NO vote, which is perfectly reasonable in a democratic process of course. The most important issued for me was ensuring that debate among the local community remained focused on the planning issues and not allowed to deteriorate into personal attacks, simply because individuals held differing views. Some campaign literature sought to raise question marks about the integrity of the NP team, and this was highly undesirable.”

“Haddenham is now a very large village but it maintains a close-knit community spirit. So it was very important that robust debate did not damage relationships going forward. Now that the referendum is behind us, I hope sincerely that this has been achieved.”

The figures are:
Turnout was 1989 out of 3,877 (51.3%)
YES vote: 1712 (86.1%)
NO vote: 273 (13.7%)
There were four spoiled ballot papers.

Photograph:
Keith Milmer, leader of the successful ‘Yes Campaign’

SOURCE: Contributed by Haddenham.net

A Thame man has been arrested on suspicion of assault and criminal damage, after a 48 year-old woman sustained a minor injury to her hand following an incident with a knife on Sunday, June 12.

The 25 year-old man has been bailed until July 29.

A pro Tesco support group in Thame is claiming that town centre traffic congestion poses a far greater threat to the future sustainability of shops and businesses in the town, than a proposed Tesco store in Howland Road.

Thame resident, Rachel Lester, who is the Secretary of ‘Thame Needs Tesco’ (TNT), said in a statement today: “The town is unprepared to deal with the huge amounts of extra traffic that will be caused by the 775 new homes already allocated for the town over the next 12 years.

“Thame town centre is already congested at peak times with traffic at a standstill and very limited parking. We are concerned about how much worse that could be with foreseeably hundreds of extra vehicles in the centre as new families move into Thame.”

The statement quotes Peggy Long, who spent 24 years as Thame’s traffic warden, agreeing with Rachel: “Parking has become an issue in Thame and I really do fear for the town unless something is done to improve the situation,” she said. “We are already bursting at the seams and there’s absolutely no way the current system can deal with the hundreds of extra vehicles that are heading our way in years to come.”

TNT says that its members believe that a possible consequence of this situation is that people could actively avoid the centre because of the congestion and shop elsewhere, in more car-friendly towns with better parking. As a result, they say: “Local shops risk losing custom and footfall due to the lack of infrastructure needed to deal with housing growth.”

“Members of TNT care passionately about Thame and the continued success of its independent businesses, but we also want the choice and convenience a new Tesco would bring,” continued Rachel Lester.

“The traffic reality could be even worse if South Oxfordshire District Council increases the number of new homes for Thame as an outcome of its ongoing review of the Local Plan, with no current plans on the table for major road or parking improvements in the town centre.”

The counter group to TNT, Thame Centre First, takes a different view. It states on its website: “Thame does not need another large supermarket. Despite the town growing, an independent survey concluded Thame needs an additional 600sqm of new retail space by 2027, this space is equivalent to two tennis courts. The proposed superstore is more than four times this size. The bottom line is that Thame and the surrounding area can not support a large out of town supermarket and our High Street shops.

“A large superstore on the edge of Thame would undermine the town’s vitality and the viability of town centre shops. Just as the current town centre supermarkets provide an important anchor role in bringing shoppers into the town centre, an out of town supermarket would draw these shoppers away. This would be detrimental to the overall sustainability of the town and would reduce the choice of services and facilities available to the community.”

Find out more about TNT (Thame Needs Tesco) see their Facebook page HERE and about Thame Centre First HERE

RESIDENTS of Chinnor Parish have met to launch the work to prepare a Chinnor Neighbourhood Plan. The event was organised by local volunteer residents who form the Chinnor Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group, and held at the village on July 2.

The 120 or so participants were given an understanding of the benefits of a Neighbourhood Plan which, they learned, include providing local people and businesses with influence over their future, giving communities a say over where development should happen and what it should look like, fostering relationships between communities, developers and local authorities, protecting and enhancing the village’s historic and natural environment, delivering sustainable growth, identifying local traffic and transport issues and promoting local employment.

Those at the meeting had the chance to generate ideas which covered the six objectives of the Neighbourhood Plan: Housing and Planning, Environment, Countryside, Heritage, Pedestrians, Transport and Traffic, Chinnor Living and Community, Local Economy and Wellbeing.

“Our next key milestone is the Housing Needs Survey,” said spokesman, Marius Ciortan, “which is due in September 2015. There are several ways residents of Chinnor can help; get involved in any way they can, join the Neighbourhood Plan Steering Group – as we don’t have all the answers and we need all kinds of talents and resources, tell your neighbours, family and friends living in the parish about the neighbourhood plan, and provide us with feedback and ideas on our website: www.chinnorneighbourplan.com on Facebook: www.facebook.com/chinnorneighbourhoodplan or e-mail: chinnorneighbourplan@outlook.com”

A very rare, unusual and valuable book has been found in an anonymously donated box of books at the Oxfam Bookshop in Thame.

The book, entitled War in Iraq, valued at £1500, was published in 1918 at the end of the First World War, to mark the signing of the Armistice by the Superintendent, Government Press, Basrah. The author was Harry St John Bridger Philby, the Intelligence Officer father of Kim Philby, the infamous double agent for the Soviet Union.

The book is a collection of photographs of the people, events and places in Iraq and Central Arabia in 1918. It is thought to be the first photographically illustrated book of the region.

The Author led a colourful life; he was a well known orientalist, explorer, intelligence officer and convert to Islam. His son, Kim Philby, was famously revealed in 1963 to be a member of the spy ring know as the Cambridge Five. The others being Maclean, Blunt, Burgess and reputedly Cairncross.

Dick Jennens, shop manager, said: “We are delighted to find this book donated to the shop and are proud of our volunteer team who ‘spied’ the book and undertook the research. The book is of historical significance.
“Almost a century after publication, Iraq and whilst much of the Middle East continues to be embroiled in conflict. This early photographic reference points us back to earlier conflicts and the short period of peace that followed the First World War.”

Following consultation with Bonham’s Auctioneers in London, a selling price of £1500 was determined.
Prior to offering the book for sale at their specialist book auction later this year it was listed on the Oxfam Online shop where it was spotted and purchased for the asking price by a customer in France.

Dick added: “The sale of this book will bring much need funds for Oxfam to help them bring relief to the refugees from conflict around the world.”

To browse Oxfam’s stock of over 400 books for sale:http://www.abebooks.co.uk/oxfam-bookshop-thame-thame/1297794/sf